Gliders galore!

Sunday was a beautifully sunny day and provided perfect thermals for the National Gliding Championships which were being run from the gliding fields at Lasham, just a 10 minute drive away from The Barn. Sitting on the terrace with drink in hand we watched dozens of gliders, all seemingly circling above The Barn and Barford Farm House. If anyone knows how one wins a gliding competition please let me know. Is it the one which stays in the air the longest, the one which reaches the highest heights or maybe some other perameter?

Wyandottes!

It's been far too long since I last updated you all on the goings on around The Barn and Barford Farm House - but here we are again with much to tell! Very excited as today we increased our flock of hens by three! Ventured for the first time to the livestock market over at Salisbury. What a cacophony of noise came from the vast numbers of crated bantams, chickens, ducks and other fowl as we made our way through the throng of people to view the birds. With not much time before the auctioneer began his warblings we scurried past several rows of crated bantams, making notes on our schedule according to which birds looked of interest. A huge learning curve then took place as the auctioneer sped his way through each lot, aided by his sidekick who indicated which crated bird was being auctioned by inserting a pole into the relevant crate and surreptitiously prodding the poor creature into a flurry of activity! Bidders ranged from young lads, to older farmers and several women with glasses perched on the end of their noses with notebooks full of writing in hand, obviously very serious business for some. Then there were the would-be-country-but-really-prefer-the-city folk bidding for the prettiest bantams to become the latest must have items for the children. One black pekin bantam sold for £50!!!!! Then there was me. Finding the black pekins a tad out of my price range (my existing flock will have to grow by their own devices) and beginning to be caught up in the excitement I felt a determination to go home with something, so thought we might have more luck with the partridge pekins. My favoured lot came up - and quickly went! The next lot looked identical and I was more determined than ever and within seconds we were showing our number 333 - they were ours! It wasn't until we paid for our birds and looked at the receipt that a certain realisation came over me. Yes, we had bought partridge bantam hens, but they were Wyandottes and not pekins as my existing flock!!! My consternation didn't last long, I am able to say with some relief. Once settled into their new home I could see they were slightly larger but just as pretty as my other birds, and being larger I can hope for larger eggs! Come and stay at our lovely self-catering accommodation at The Barn in Medstead, Hampshire and you can see them for yourselves! www.barfordfarmhouse.com

New Arrivals!

The swallows (or are they swifts?) have not only arrived but activity in the stable, to which they have returned for at least the past five years, suggests chicks have already hatched! More importantly though, one of my little partridge bantams has been sitting very patiently on a clutch of six eggs for the past three weeks and I was beginning to wonder whether she would be successful when yesterday we noticed two amber coloured fluffballs - yahoo! Sadly, before the other four had a chance to hatch the mother hen had got bored and abandoned them allowing them to get cold and die. Sad, but that's life as they say! Come to stay at The Barn in Medstead near Alton in Hampshire in springtime and you too could enjoy these spectacles. See http://www.barfordfarmhouse.com/ for more details of our self-catering or bed and breakfast accommodation and facilities.

It's been a while!

It's seems ages since I last wrote but things have become somewhat hectic of late! It's spring, officially, and everything is happening in the garden or should be. Spending increasing amounts of time in the polytunnel planting seeds and wondering why I don't just buy the plants ready to plant from the garden centre. Seems cheaper to buy the seed packets but if I sat down to work it out, if I charged for my time, compost, water and plants lost to drought (due to my forgetting to water!!) I'm not so convinced. I shall do a bit of both and hedge my bets!

The buzzards are making themselves known more and more now and becoming increasingly daring. Thought I was going to lose one of the Barn Owls to one the other day and not sure I haven't lost a tawny to one. Definately lost a tawny as one was found in the wood yesterday with a broken neck, but whether that was due to being chased by a buzzard and flying into a tree who knows. Might just have been elderly and fallen off its perch!

The wood is beginning to take on a blue hue as the bluebells begin to open. Can't help thinking it is a bit early for them but maybe the recent warm spell has helped them on their way. Global warming? Weather is proving costly to some of the garden plants and several have succumbed to the hard frosts of a week ago which followed some lovely sunshine. Strange weather.

The whistle of the steam trains on the Watercress Line have been heard in recent days as Thomas the Tank Engine and friends trundle along the tracks between Alresford and Alton during the Easter holidays. Great fun for all the family. See www.watercressline.co.uk for further details.

Woodie Woodpecker

Well I can hear him but I've yet to see him! He sounds just like a jackhammer in the distance each morning as I wend my way across the garden to the stables where Tiffany awaits her breakfast. It'll be one of several green woodpeckers who frequent the gardens and woods around The Barn; they seem to especially enjoy the larvae of the cranefly, Daddy Longlegs to me, which inhabit my lawns, much to my disgust! Last year he made a regular appearance around 4:00pm pecking holes in my lawns in his efforts to stock up for the evening. Just as well I enjoy bird watching!

Haymaking in March!

It's a bit early in the year to be thinking about making hay, or it would be if the weather had been kind enough for the previous year's hay to have been made! As it was, last year's hay remained uncut and lay thickly on this year's new growth of grass and so threatened to affect the prospective harvest. So there was only one thing to do - get on the mower! Fortunately, both today and yesterday have been sunny and the grass sufficiently dry to cut, but, with five acres it was going to take some time. And it did, but I have to say it was rather pleasant sitting on the mower driving around the 'estate' with its fantastic views across the Hampshire countryside south towards the South Downs and west towards Alresford and further to Winchester. I watched the buzzards flying high overhead looking for an easy meal as I pootled around the fields trying to miss frightened voles as they scurried through the tussocks which were about to be scalped. It took several hours in all, a couple of flasks of hot tea and too many chocolate biscuits but hopefully the grass will now grow strongly for a good crop of hay this summer. Come and stay at The Barn this year and help with the hay harvest. See www.barfordfarmhouse.com for further details of accommodation at The Barn.

Birdworld

What another beautiful day today, so time to get into the polytunnel to think about sowing a few seeds! Bit late, according to the packet, but I'm giving cauliflowers a go this year - we'll see how they do. Also some bean seeds kept back from last year's crop - not sure how these will do either but you don't know unless you try! Must remember to keep the sweet peas quite separate from the edible variety - unlike last year which meant I had the colourful scented variety in amongst my broad beans whilst the edible variety rambled up my rambling roses!
Had my first trip to Forest Lodge, excellent, if expensive, garden centre near Farnham, yesterday and passed the Jenny Wren farm belonging to Birdworld. It's a great day out for everyone, but the Jenny Wren farm is particularly loved by toddlers who can get 'hands on' experience of a variety of different animals- spotted a donkey as I drove past. Birdworld is just a 20 minute drive from The Barn and has lots to do and see - not just birds. Take a look at http://www.birdworld.co.uk/ for further information on one of the local attractions to The Barn http://www.barfordfarmhouse.com/

The photograph shows some of the bantams found at The Barn. Young children love to feed them and to collect their delicious eggs.

Brock the Badger

The last few days have been positively springlike and the local fauna are beginning to be active! The barn owl still regularly flies across the fields and gardens - rich pickings - and I'm sure I heard another calling from the woods the other evening so I'm hoping there will be little barn owls in the not too distant future, though this next wave of winter weather due this week will likely dampen their ardour!

The badgers, too, are becoming more active and are sorting out their setts giving them a springclean and fresh bedding. The photo shows recent activity with dried grass having been dropped just outside an entrance.

The bluebells are peeking above the thick layer of leaf litter so, hopefully, we will get a good display this year - a great photographic opportunity for those who stay at The Barn in Medstead at the right time of year! See www.barfordfarmhouse.com for details of accommodation offered at The Barn where you can be assured of a very warm welcome!

The Watercress Line

It's half-term week and the Watercress Line, the local steam railway, is host to Ivor the Engine (see photo taken by Tony Wood), a new event for this popular local attraction. Thomas the Tank Engine and friends will be the next visitors at Easter - but check their website for further details http://www.watercressline.co.uk/ if intending to visit. The Barn www.barfordfarmhouse.com is very well placed for visitors as it is just a 10 minute drive to Medstead station, 10 minutes drive to Ropley station (home to the engine sheds) and just 15 minutes drive to the terminii at either Alton or Alresford. When the wind blows in the right direction we can even here the whistle of the steam trains as they climb up the hill from Ropley towards Four Marks - some great photographic opportunities here too!

Foxy Loxy!

It was around 4 o'clock this morning when I heard the eerie bark of one of several local foxes. At least one has its lair in Hook Wood and another has its home in the field next door in a rundown old pigsty. They are becoming ever more daring these days, and often prowl across the fields in broad daylight. One came within just a few metres of me last summer as I stood by the stables in chicken protection mode having lost my entire flock of bantams to the foxes a few weeks previously. I say entire flock, I mean all the useful ones that laid eggs as a very battered looking cockeral did survive the attack! It took me several weeks before I was able to restock - hen keeping has certainly become a very popular activity since that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall got his hands on them and has meant pullet prices have rocketed. C'est la vie! Now I have 4 partridge bantam hens and cockeral and 4 black pekin bantam hens and cockeral so, with any luck, I'll be able to increase my flock this year to previous numbers or thereabouts. Must remember to turn on the electric fencing tonight!

The veggie patch

It's that time of year again when I begin to think about what goodies to plant in the veggie patch. Patch probably isn't the best description of our vegetable garden as there are currently five raised vegetable beds, with plans for more, a more traditional vegetable garden with fruit bushes, rhubarb, strawberries and the like, herb beds full of sage, rosemary, oregano, thymes and more, more raised beds for salad leaves and tomatoes, a significant veggie patch and a polytunnel where I do all my potting up, on, etc and nurture a brown fig tree, a few peppers and the like. As if that is not enough to keep us occupied, last year we planted up a small vineyard of 300 Phoenix, a German white grape variety which is supposed to be a good one for beginners, fairly disease resistant and all that, and our soils, being chalky, south west facing and on a slope should suit. Who knows, in just a few years, visitors to The Barn www.barfordfarmhouse.com may be able to sample a free bottle of our own home-produced wine!

Now the snow has gone!

Hi All,

Sorry I haven't been writing recently but the recent snow falls resulted in lots of extra work for us at Barford Farm.

Tiffany, our pony, was stabled for the duration so water buckets, hay nets and feed buckets all needed to be kept topped up throughout the day; the hens' water trough needed to be kept free of ice, even though the hens themselves rarely ventured down the ramp of their ark - far too cold for their little yellow feet; the bird feeders needed to be regularly topped up as more birds than usual visited the gardens, including blackbirds, a whole variety of finches, tits and the more than occasional pigeon. Even the pheasant partook of the seeds which dropped onto the decking below the feeders.

Still, even though we have been worked harder than usual, the snow did bring benefits; hopefully the bug population will have been sufficiently reduced to enable the organic vegetable gardens to flourish this year.

The snow also provided great opportunities for tracking the animals which venture across the fields and through Hook Wood; deer tracks predominated in the woods whilst in the more open fields pheasants were easily tracked - one of which had obviously filled up on far too many fermented berries and wove a most amusing trail of drunkeness across the snow!

Now the snow has gone, just about, we can look forward to the school holidays next week and the anticipation of hearing the whistle of Ivor the Engine, his first visit to the Watercress Line next week! See www.watercressline.co.uk for further details. Incidentally, The Barn provides a very comfortable place to stay whilst visiting the Watercress Line. See www.barfordfarmhouse.com or http://alton-hampshire-cottage-accommodation.co.uk for further details. We'd love to see you!

It's snow time!

A very good afternoon to all those who have found my blog today, it's snowing! At over 600' above sea level, Medstead is usually affected if it snows anywhere in Hampshire, and during the night and today it has snowed throughout the country! Great tobogganing opportunities across the fields and down Common Hill, not so good for the postman who failed to deliver today!

The animals aren't so keen either. Tiffany, our lovely elderly pony, is in her stable wrapped up in two rugs for warmth and now shares her space with a little robin, who does his best to tuck in to her feed bowl when he can. The bantam hens have yet to venture out from their ark and at 4:00pm they are unlikely to do so today. Spotted a rabbit earlier darting across the garden but other than that no sign of other wildlife except for a few birds; the usual vibrant pheasant strutting his stuff across the vegetable garden, a blackbird and a couple of finches on the bird feeders and, just this minute as I'm writing this blog, the barn owl in hunting mode flying across the fields. My mad dash with camera in hand upstairs proved fruitless - very difficult to snap a barn owl against a background of snow! 'Til next time...

The Barn in February

Here I am again for a second go at this blog business and thought I'd tell you a little about our lovely ancient wood, Hook Wood. Not sure about 'green shoots of recovery' but green shoots of the bluebells in our wood are certainly pushing their way through the leaf litter! They will probably now be checked by the wintry weather expected over the next few days, but hopefully, by April, there will be glimpses from The Barn of a profusion of blue and wafts of heavenly scent across the fields. Have you ever sat in the middle of a bluebell wood in late spring? Quite something I can assure you, and our guests who stay with us at this time are welcome to indulge. See our website for further details of accommodation on offer if interested.

Welcome to The Barn in Medstead

Welcome to The Barn at Barford Farm House where we provide comfortable and homely self-catering or B&B accommodation. We are located in some of Hampshire's most attractive and interesting countryside and look forward to the time when we might welcome you as our guests. For further information of the accommodation and its facilities please take a look at http://www.barfordfarmhouse.com/ or http://alton-hampshire-cottage-accommodation.co.uk

The aim of this blog, apart from attempting to bring me into the 21st century, is to help keep all those of you who pass by this blog up to date with what is going on in and around The Barn. Hope you enjoy!